As far as survival gear goes, I like cheap, light, unobtrusive, and multi-use. Today’s tip of using a Pencil Sharpener for Tinder fits all those things.
If you keep a small pencil sharpener in your gear you can use it to make tinder for your fire. It the outside of the wood is wet from a quick rainstorm, by cutting into the wood you can access dry material.
As a side benefit – the pencil sharpener will put a point on small diameter wood which you could use to make traps, fishing implements, tent stakes – whatever – and in a pinch the razor can be removed and uses as a small knife.
Not bad for something you can buy at the dollar store…
The best thing about using a pencil sharpener for tinder is that it weighs practically nothing, is small and ob obtrusive, and if you take care when selecting it, you may be able to disassemble it to get a razor you could use if needed.
This is a great survival kit idea, it it light, cheap, small, and never goes bad. I make a point to keep a pencil sharpener in all my tool bags just for those reasons.
This article is not a step by step guide to Harbor Freight Cement Mixer Assembly, you can get that in the video below, but rather extra tips I learned from the install and first use of my 3.5 cubic foot mixer.
First off, in the event you lost your instructions here is a link for an online copy of the PDF from Harbor Freight – it is copy written, so I am just providing a link.
Next realize that for around $20 you are not getting heavy duty metal. However, this does have some good reviews on many of the harbor freight sites. Additionally I have found that if you take reasonable precautions, the mixer is well worth the money.
You want to make sure you have metric tools. You will also need:
slip ring pliers
Loctite
gasket compound
larger wheels
a wood block
a couple of lag bolts
I also found that a length of pipe helps with assembly of the Harbor Freight cement mixer.
Harbor Freight Cement Mixer Build Tips
When putting the mixer together, the drive shaft is already assembled. As far as our build went we had to remove the slip rings in order to install the motor mount case, and on the other side the dump control lever. We did not have slip ring pliers so we had to modify a pair of needle nose pliers, and reinstall them by using a pipe over the shaft and knocking the ring back in. This was due to quality control issues so your mileage may vary.
Also, on the drive shaft, when you bolt on the cast iron pulley, and the gear that turns the mixer tub, use Loctite, and you may want to consider buying two lock washers and adding them.
When we were using this in the dome build, the bolts backed out twice. That ended up losing the keyway and rendering the mixer unusable.
While you have the Loctite out, remove the small screws holding the case on the electric motor. I did not notice at the time of the first use, but later
I saw that most of the bolts backed out, and the last one was hanging on by just a few threads.
When putting the tub together, it is easier to use gasket compound to hold the rubber gasket on the tub. I forgot to get some (it was recommended in several videos). During assembly I found that since many of the bolt holes punched in the gasket were a little off, if I pushed the bolts through the tub, the gasket would hold them on and the bolts would hold the gasket on flat.
When putting the motor together, and working the electrical, I found it was much easier to unbolt the switch housing from the casing in order to more easily make the electrical connections.
The hardest thing to do was figure out the mixer blades. The instructions were very poor translations from the original Chinese. After much discussion, and trying various ways, we realized that there were stickers on the tub that helped. If the arrows on the top half and the bottom half lined up, and you used the third arrow to find the direction of rotation, it was much easier to figure out what is happening. Remember the blades scoop up the cement as it rotates, and then dumps the mix at the top of the rotation.
Lastly, the wheels are not big enough to raise the mixer high enough to dump in a wheel barrow. I suggest you get a set of 10 inch air filled tires while you are at harbor freight. Bolt an 8 inch 4×4 n to the foot on the other end of the mixer.
It only took an hour or so to put the mixer together, and our first use was pretty rigorous. In my opinion, this is a harbor freight tool that is worth the time and the money.
Some time ago a online journal for Emergency Management Professionals posted an article proclaiming Preppers to be “Socially Selfish” (The article has since been removed and the site changed names). I was one of many that took issue and rebutted the entire premise.
At the time, I bristled at the idea that preppers are selfish, as preppers are some of the most productive citizens I have ever met. Preppers are fiercely independent so they (as a whole) pay more than their fair share of the taxes used to pay for emergency responders. Yet receive less than benefits of those taxes than anyone else. I could go on and on of the benefits preppers give to society, but
I would rather tell you I was wrong.
After thinking about it, I have come to realize that preppers are selfish. Paradoxically, that is what makes them great for society. Instead of arguing that preppers were not selfish, I should have made arguments that selfishness is a good thing.
That’s right, I said selfishness is good.
Before you stone me or quote scripture, please realize I don’t mean infantile what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is mine, and I deserve anything I want kind of selfishness.
When I say selfishness is good, I mean that mature moderated selfishness is good. The kind of selfishness that says I want to have good things, so I must go out and make the effort to get good things. The kind of selfishness that comes out of the pride of accomplishmen. If you have ever worked hard and earned an award or built something you feel worthy pride you understand. You also won’t willingly give it up to someone that sat on their duff while you worked. It is selfish of you not to share with people that don’t have what you have. But, rewarding those that do not work by taking the rewards from those that earned them is evil.
It is the exact opposite of natural selection. It is an unnatural reward process that co-ops the system into creating the mindless spineless masses of flesh that are overwhelming our countries “support system”.
Infants, babies, toddlers – are all naturally selfish. As parent’s we teach our children to share. However, if we want to produce well-adjusted and productive adults we also teach them to protect themselves. They need to know how to say no to those that would abuse them. Children must learn to delay gratification so that they have a little something put back for the future.
In the essay I,Pencil Leonard Read used a pencil to describe Adam’s Smith’s concept of an invisible hand. The Invisible Hand acts acted in free markets to guide an economies production to the highest and best use. The reason America was able to go from a colony of one the world’s superpowers, to THE superpower in a few short generations was free men acting in their own best interest.
If I want to make a fortune, which is selfish. I have to find out what people want to spend money on. Meaning to assuage my selfishness, I have to produce something that other people want (selfishly). I have to convince people to work for me to produce these widgets. I do that by playing on their selfishness. My job is to offer them things they want in order to get them to do what they do not want to do. They take it because they are selfish.
Every breath of air you take, some else could have used – and I know quite a few people that would do the world a favor if they stopped breathing (but they selfishly refuse to stop).
I do this work because I get something out of it. My sponsors pay me because they get something out of it, you read it because you get something out of it. Everything anyone does is because they want to enjoy their time on this earth (or – for some their afterlife)
Selfish is not wrong as long as it is moderated. “There is an appointed time for everything. Ant there is a time for every event under heaven”. We are supposed to work hard, play hard, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. A core concept of this country is that we have a God given right to try to stay alive, keep free, and go after our bliss.
I prepare because I want to, I work because I want the rewards of my work. People don’t do anything without a reason. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes, that reason is nothing more than it makes me happy)
However, because I prep, I can share my knowledge with others, so that they can (hopefully) learn how to be more effective at what they want to do. Thus freeing them to do other things.
Because I prep, companies can employ workers to make the things I buy, who then can take their wages and do other things.
Due to my I personal prepardness, I can take care of my own basic needs, so that I don’t have to take a bed in a shelter, or food/water/clothing from distribution points – freeing those resources to be used for other people.
Because I prep, I am free in disasters to respond in my role as an emergency manager, so that I can help other people survive and live to do other things.
I prep because I am selfish, but because I am selfish others benefit.
If I gave everything I had away – I would starve – and then I could not help anyone… Therefore selfishness is good. I take care of myself first, so I have resources available to help others.
I have a very easy recipe for making your own homemade pasta. I love pasta, and since boxed pastas cannot compete with fresh noodles, I wanted to share my recipe. It is very simple and easy to modify once you get the principles down.
Basically it is one cup flour to one cup egg.
All you need is flour (I used All Purpose, but adding some high protein flour helps), eggs, and water.
You can mix directly on your table and use your hands, but I used a mixing bowl and fork to start.
A rolling pin and knife are needed to shape and cut your pasta.
Step 1: Add eggs and incorporate into dough
Make a indent into your flour, and break the egs into the center of the depression. Gently beat eggs, and slowly move outward incorporating the flour bit by bit until you end up with a ball of dough.
Depending on the weather, the flour, the size of the eggs, and if you held your mouth right, you may need to add a small bit of water to totally form the dough.
Once you have a ball of dough, dump it out onto a large floured surface.
Step 2: Knead
Knead the dough thoroughly. You want to really work the gluten in the wheat. It will become smooth and take a consistency a lot like play dough.
Step 3: Roll out very thinly
Using a rolling pin roll your dough out until it is as thin as you can make it. Pasta will plump as it cooks, so take that into consideration. It is nice if you can keep your dough roughly rectangular in shape, but I always give up as I try to keep it thin.
Step 4: Cut into strips
You can cut your dough by hand (great if you have patience and attention to detail and want very thin strips) This is most easily done with a pizza cutter or very large dough knife. BUt I find it easier to roll the dough and cut little pinwheels (see my article on the easy way to cut pasta dough).
Step 5: Cook
You could dry the noodles for later by handing them up. They make special drying racks made of small wood dowels, but I think past is much tastier if cooked fresh.
All you need is boiling water. Dump the noodles in the water and they will cook in 2 or 3 minutes.
Drain and serve with whatever sauce you like best.
I wasn’t really sure I wanted to share this covert LDK belt carry method. Not because its not a good tip, but I think everyone needs a secret or two. However, I found a new method of carrying a BOGA knife (Back Off-Get Away). This method can be used as a last ditch defensive weapon.
I like the Ka-Bar LDK (last Ditch Knife). It is a small back up knife designed for just such a use. The small size and flat Kydex sheath make it perfect for mounting in tight spaces.
What I did was sew it near the buckle of my 5.11 rigger belt. I can reach under and draw the knife easily. I did end up tying a small piece of brown shoelace to the grip to make this easier. Being under my belt and very close to the metal buckle it is almost undiscoverable.
I like the small size because my state has a maximum legal length for fixed knives. This blade is very comfortably within legal limits.
I have carried this knife in this manner for a while (years). So I have refined my sewing technique. When I made this video I was still using thread and a normal needle.
Fishing Line Thread Holds it Best
I now use thin monofilament line and a larger needle to better force through the belt. This makes me able to sew no only the corners, but also the two middle holes. The additional thread makes a very secure and non-moving mount.
My only concern is that this knife is very hard for a big guy like me to re-sheath. I generally have to unbuckle my belt to get it back in.
This is not normally a problem, as this knife is not meant for daily use. You should not draw it unless it is an emergency.
This article is not a step by step guide to Harbor Freight Cement Mixer Assembly, you can get that in the video below, but rather extra tips I learned from the install and first use of my 3.5 cubic foot mixer.
Some time ago a online journal for Emergency Management Professionals posted an article proclaiming Preppers to be “Socially Selfish” (The article has since been removed and the site changed names). I was one of many that took issue and 
I have a very easy recipe for making your own homemade pasta. I love pasta, and since boxed pastas cannot compete with fresh noodles, I wanted to share my recipe. It is very simple and easy to modify once you get the principles down.
